Kolkata Eagerly Awaits Messi Show

When it comes to sport in India, it’s rare for any individual outside of cricket to generate the type of hysterical hero-worshipping usually reserved for the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. But Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi does just that and his arrival in Kolkata for a friendly match against Venezuela has sent the eastern Indian city into a spin.

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Indian fans of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi wave Argentinian and Indian flags as they wait for Messi's arrival in Kolkata on Wednesday. View Slideshow.

Kolkata, West Bengal, is India’s soccer heartland. Forget about team India and European countries: fans in this part of the world are most passionate about Latin American sides, in particular Brazil and Argentina. It all stems back to Pelé and then Diego Maradona, who both wowed soccer watchers in India (and the world over) with their sublime skills. Maradona of course won millions of extra Indian fans when he single-handedly (ahem) destroyed England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals.

Despite still being in the relatively early stages of his career, Messi, 24, is already expected to join Pelé and Maradona at the top of the list of all-time greats. His arrival in India is a big deal for a country starved of soccer stars, and FIFA knows it. India remains a huge and largely untapped market for the sport. What other reason would there be for two South American countries, whose players either ply their trade there or in Europe, to fly all the way to India for a one-off match? This is sport at its most commercial, and Messi is the rhythmic, money-spinning cog at its center. Sports shops selling the blue-and-white strip of Argentina should enjoy a healthy few days of trade.

Friday’s match at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata will be Messi’s first as Argentina’s captain, as well as Alejandro Sabella’s debut as coach of the national team. Venezuela hasn’t beaten Argentina in 17 attempts, but will be a tougher proposition after reaching the semifinals in the recent Copa America. Argentina crashed out of that tournament in the quarterfinals after losing to Uruguay on penalties, prompting the departure of coach Sergio Batista.

Argentina is in a rebuilding phase, while Venezuela is on a rare high. Friday evening’s match in Kolkata, whatever the result, will have little impact on the teams – international friendlies are, frankly, pretty meaningless. But it will still mean a lot to the people of Kolkata, especially the 120,000 who fill Salt Lake Stadium to see Messi & Co. play first hand.

That’s a huge crowd even for Messi, who plays week-in, week-out at the enormous Nou Camp in Barcelona, which has a capacity of about 100,000. Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, also known as Yuva Bharato Krirangan, is the world’s second-largest stadium that hosts soccer matches, after the 150,000 seater Rungrado May Day Stadium in--yes, you guessed it--Pyongyang, North Korea.

Of the thousands in Kolkata tonight, four children will have a particularly memorable experience. Save the Children has picked four youngsters from the most marginalized communities in the city to walk out on to the pitch with the players, so not only will they be able to say they watched Messi play, they’ll also be able to revel in the fact that they held the great player’s hand.